David McKee

Once a year on Elmer's Day, all the elephants decorate themselves and have a parade, and this year Elmer comes up with a plan to include the other animals as well as the elephants.

"As Elmer the patchwork elephant is strolling through the jungle, he hears a cry for help. A butterfly is trapped. Elmer easily frees her. She promises to help Elmer. But how can a butterfly ever help an elephant?"-- Provided by publisher.

After days of being in a cave with the rest of his herd due to torrential rains, Elmer the patchwork elephant is ready for some time alone, but first he must get help to rescue Young Elephant from an island formed by flood waters.

The general of a large country conquers other lands "so they can be like us," but discovers that the last small country he invades seems to influence his own instead.

Aunt Zelda has a gift to give to Elmer from his Grandpa Eldo, but she can't remember what it is or where it is. Zelda's memory sometimes escapes her, and her hearing isn't what it used to be, so they set off together to find Grandpa Eldo and solve the mystery of the forgotten gift. Elmer's love, patience, and respect for his Aunt Zelda and Grandpa Eldo make for a heart-warming depiction of family life with elderly relatives.

The young elephants want to prove who is the fastest, so Elmer and Wilbur organise a race. Each decorated a different colour, the racers set off around the course and discover things about themselves - Blue may be first and Orange second, but White is kind, Pink and Violet are funny and Yellow is a cheat. Luckily Yellow also learns he is very good at saying sorry, so each young elephant gets a medal from Elmer.

Elmer is on his way to visit his Grandpa Eldo. He has great fun reminding Eldo of all the things they used to do together, but is Eldo quite as forgetful as Elmer thinks? He may be old but he is an elephant, after all, and elephants never forget. Do they?

One day, Elmer notices that there are no birds around. How strange! Soon he finds them hiding from the nasty bully bird in a nearby cave. The bully bird is mean and likes to frighten the little birds. Led by Elmer, the animals work together to frighten off the bully - and succeed!

Elmer, the patchwork elephant, plays an amusing trick on his grey elephant friends.

When Zebra gets the hiccups, all his animal friends have cures to suggest.